Often, computer geeks who started programming at a young age brag about it, as it is a source of geeky prestige. However, most computer geeks are oblivious to the fact that your parents being able to afford a computer back in the 1980s is a product of class privilege, not your innate geekiness. Additionally, the child’s gender affects how much the parents are willing to financially invest in the child’s computer education. If parents in the 1980s think that it is unlikely their eight-year-old daughter will have a career in technology, then purchasing a computer may seem like a frivolous expense.
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lol…in the words of a wise freind of mine…..”So?”
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My dad sold computers and office supplies (a few years out of teaching). We had a commodore 64 desktop machine and a laptop style one – well, transportable and around 15 pounds. It was awesome. Yay technology!
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That entry was either a troll or written by someone who lacks the ability to write a cogent, persuasive paper.
My wife says I’m taking it too seriously and that I shouldn’t post a reply.
I take it personally because my parents were uneducated, in the working class and only rarely (and grudgingly) encouraged me in my academic interests. To them my hand-me-down Timex Sinclair 1000 served two purposes: 1) To keep me occupied and out of their way. 2) To take away when I misbehaved.
I’ll just pretend that I didn’t spend a few hours following citations and writing a paragraph by paragraph critique. *whistles tunelessly and shuffles off*
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Is bollocks. Maybe if you started out on a PC or Atari or Tandy machine. But most of the people I’ve known started out on ZX Spectrums (Timex-Sinclairs in the States) or C-64s, which were the cheapest machines going. It may have strained my single, social worker mum’s finances a bit to get the 64, but $200 wasn’t going to stop us from eating. Indeed, I knew families on less money that managed to get that or a Spectrum.
Now if you managed to get an Amiga… That took some disposable income. Oh, how I lusted after one. I laboured on with the 64 into the early 90s before I could contribute summer job earnings to a fancy 386-based PC.
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I had the same experience. C-64 until I could afford my own machine. And the C-64 was an effort for my parents, even though they were considered cheap machines.
The reason I dismiss the article is that you could make the same lame point about a lot of professions or skills. (like sports)
I agree completely with R’s first sentence.
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